Wagepoint Vs Gusto – Selecting The Better HR Software
Wagepoint Vs Gusto – Selecting The Better HR Software
Apr 15, 2025· 7 mins Read
The recent years have seen a major shift in human resources (HR) management. Thanks to advanced tools, most HR processes are now digitized and automated, ensuring accuracy and saving time. Among these tools, Wagepoint and Gusto are widely recognized as industry leaders due to their advanced features, automation capabilities, and ease of use.
Wagepoint serves as a centralized HR and payroll platform for Canadian businesses, while Gusto offers an all-in-one solution encompassing essential features with global payroll capabilities.
Find out which one is the better option for your business in this comprehensive Wagepoint vs Gusto comparison.
Wagepoint Vs Gusto: At A Glance
Feature
Wagepoint
Gusto
Payroll Processing
Automates payroll and tax forms (T4s, T4As) and has an employee portal
Automates payroll and tax filings and supports global payroll in 120+ countries with multi-currency support
Time And Attendance
Offers 'Time by Wagepoint' for clocking in/out and integrates with payroll
Centralized platform with clock-in via app, Time Kiosk, geofencing, and scheduling
Onboarding
Personalized welcome pages, task tracking, and digital signatures for paperwork
Simple checklist with customizable tasks and delegation features for HR
Ease Of Use
Intuitive, easy to set up, ideal for small businesses
User-friendly but limited customization for unique business needs
Pricing
Flexible, modular plans with a 14-day trial
Tiered pricing with higher base costs but more features for growing businesses
What Is Wagepoint?
Wagepoint is a cloud-based software that simplifies payroll processing and HR management for small businesses in Canada. It offers an intuitive platform that automates payroll calculations, tax filings, and direct deposits, ensuring businesses stay compliant with federal, state, and provincial regulations.
With features like automatic tax remittances, employee self-service portals, and integration with popular accounting software such as QuickBooks and Xero Accounting Solution, it helps businesses save time and reduce payroll errors. Beyond payroll, Wagepoint also provides additional tools like ‘Time by Wagepoint’ for employee time tracking and ‘People by Wagepoint’ for managing employee records and onboarding.
Unique Features Of Wagepoint
Employee Data Management: The software replaces spreadsheets and paper files with a centralized, cloud-based system. This allows businesses to securely store, organize, and access employee information from anywhere, ensuring efficiency and compliance.
File Storage: With Wagepoint’s electronic file storage, businesses can go paperless and manage all employee documents in one secure location. This simplifies record-keeping, reduces clutter, and ensures important files are easily accessible when needed.
Employee Performance: By providing a structured way to track performance and feedback, Wagepoint helps businesses foster employee growth and engagement.
Pros And Cons Of Wagepoint
Pros
Offers an easy process to view and download pay slips
Provides self-service portals for employees to easily access their information
Allows users to easily generate reports in their preferred format
Cons
The mobile app only offers time off tracking functionality
The server can be slow at times, which may cause delays in processing payroll
What Is Gusto?
Gusto is an all-in-one platform that simplifies payroll, benefits, and HR for small and mid-sized businesses. Its full-service payroll system automates calculations, tax filings, and compliance, allowing payroll to be processed in just a few clicks. The platform also integrates time tracking, syncing employees' hours, paid time off (PTO), and holidays directly with payroll to ensure accuracy and efficiency.
Additionally, Gusto HR Software provides comprehensive HR tools to support the entire employee lifecycle. It integrates with various third-party tools and systems across various categories, including accounting, performance management, hiring and onboarding, learning management, point of sale (POS), and others. These include Breezy HR, Asana, 7Shifts, Slack Software, HubSpot, Lattice HR, and Shopify Software.
Unique Features Of Gusto
Talent Management: Gusto supports employee growth with automated performance reviews, self-evaluations, and career development tools to enhance workplace performance.
Benefits Management: The platform simplifies benefits administration by integrating health, dental, vision, HSAs, and 401(k) plans with payroll, ensuring seamless deductions and compliance.
Hiring: Gusto streamlines hiring with job postings, an applicant tracking system (ATS), and offer letter templates, with onboarding tools like checklists and e-signatures.
Pros And Cons Of Gusto
Pros
Allows users to easily locate essential information, including taxes, pay stubs, benefits, etc
Offers an app-first approach, which improves usability and provides a seamless, modern user experience
Serves as a central hub for key employee tasks, like scheduling PTO and managing expense reports
Cons
The geofencing feature can be inaccurate, sometimes marking users outside the zone
Lacks the option to set recurring amounts for contractors, requiring manual entry each time
Wagepoint Vs Gusto – Key Features Comparison
Payroll Processing
Wagepoint’s payroll system is designed for efficiency, offering automated payroll runs to reduce administrative workload and minimize errors. It automates employee and contractor payments, ensuring accurate and timely payroll management. With built-in direct deposit and an in-app payroll calendar, businesses can effortlessly pay their employees without any delays.
Furthermore, the software also generates year-end tax forms such as T4s and T4As, helping businesses stay compliant without the hassle of manual calculations. Wagepoint also includes an employee self-service portal where staff can view pay stubs and tax documents, eliminating the need for paper records.
Gusto automates payroll calculations, tax filings, and direct deposits, ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local regulations. Employees can be paid via direct deposit or check, and Gusto handles payroll tax filings on behalf of employers, reducing the administrative burden. The platform also provides features like automatic payroll runs, off-cycle payments, and integrations with accounting software.
For businesses with international teams, Gusto’s global payroll capabilities extend beyond the U.S., enabling companies to hire and pay employees and contractors in over 120 countries. Through its partnership with local providers, it ensures compliance with international labor laws, tax regulations, and benefits requirements. Employers can manage cross-border payments seamlessly, handling multiple currencies and payment methods through a centralized platform.
Winner: While Wagepoint offers a solid payroll system, it lacks the global reach and some of the advanced features that Gusto provides, making the latter a clear winner in this category.
Time And Attendance
Wagepoint offers time and attendance tracking capabilities through a separate solution called 'Time by Wagepoint'. It enables employees to easily clock in and out using a digital time clock, ensuring accurate and real-time tracking of work hours. This eliminates manual timesheets and reduces the risk of errors, helping businesses maintain precise records for payroll processing.
Seamlessly integrated with Wagepoint Payroll, this module ensures approved work hours, overtime, and breaks are automatically reflected in payroll calculations.
Gusto simplifies time and attendance tracking by centralizing time management needs into one easy-to-use platform. It eliminates the need for manual data entry and juggling multiple tools for scheduling, time tracking, and payroll.
With this software, employees can effortlessly clock in and out using any web browser or the Gusto Wallet app, available on both iOS and Android. The Time Kiosk feature further streamlines this process, which turns any tablet into a time clock. It also supports flexible work arrangements like remote work or flextime with geofenced work sites, ensuring employees can clock in and out based on location.
Additionally, the software makes it easy to create, view, and share schedules, reducing the risk of conflicts like double-booking or leaving shifts uncovered.
Winner: Gusto excels in time and attendance tracking with its all-in-one platform that integrates scheduling, time tracking, and payroll management.
Onboarding
Wagepoint transforms employee onboarding into an efficient and streamlined process. The software allows businesses to create a personalized welcome page for each new hire, accessible from anywhere at any time. It particularly stands out for its ability to assign and track hiring tasks across the entire team, from IT staff to the new hires themselves.
With ‘People by Wagepoint,’ businesses can create reusable task templates for different types of hires, ensuring consistency and efficiency throughout the process. Furthermore, all employee paperwork can be assigned, tracked, and digitally signed, eliminating the need for printing and paperwork mishaps.
Gusto provides a simple, reliable checklist for each new hire to streamline the employee onboarding process. This checklist ensures that all essential tasks, such as getting the necessary forms signed and setting up benefits, are completed efficiently. The platform allows HR managers to customize the list by adding their own items or even delegating specific tasks to others.
This makes onboarding not only easier but also more organized, allowing users to focus on other priorities while ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.
Winner: Wagepoint stands out with its personalized welcome pages, task tracking across teams, and reusable task templates, ensuring a smooth onboarding process.
Ease Of Use
Wagepoint has garnered widespread acclaim for its intuitive interface, making payroll processing straightforward for small businesses. Users consistently highlight the platform's simplicity and ease of navigation for both managers and employees.
Beyond its intuitive design, its setup process is streamlined to facilitate quick and hassle-free implementation. This emphasis on user experience ensures even those with minimal payroll expertise can manage their processes efficiently.
Gusto is widely praised for its user-friendly interface, which automates payroll and streamlines HR processes. Users frequently commend the platform's clean layout, easy navigation, and efficient automation features that streamline administrative processes.
However, some users feel that Gusto's interface lacks advanced customization options, which may limit its adaptability for businesses with unique requirements.
Winner: Wagepoint wins this round for its intuitive interface, making it incredibly easy for small businesses to manage payroll and HR functions without needing advanced expertise.
Pricing
Wagepoint offers flexible, modular pricing, allowing companies to choose the features they need and pay only for what they use. Its plans include:
Payroll
Solo - $20/month + $4 per employee/contractor
Unlimited - $40/month + $5 per employee/contractor
People by Wagepoint:
Startup - $3/user/month
Studio - $5/user/month
Growth - $6/user/month
Enterprise – Custom pricing
Time By Wagepoint:
0-5 users - $20/month
6+ users - $4/active user/month
Each plan comes with a free, 14-day trial period, giving companies the opportunity to explore the features and determine the best fit for their needs before committing.
Gusto offers three different pricing plans designed for businesses at different stages. These include:
Simple - $49/month + $6/person/month
Plus - $80/month + $12/person/month
Premium - $180/month + $22/person/month
Additionally, there’s a contractor-only plan for businesses without W-2 employees. It costs $35/month + $6/contractor/month.
Winner: Wagepoint wins in pricing due to its flexible, modular pricing structure, allowing businesses to only pay for the features they need. This is ideal for smaller businesses or startups looking to keep costs low and scale as necessary.
Final Verdict – Which HR Software Edges Out?
On the whole, both Wagepoint and Gusto offer powerful solutions for businesses looking to streamline payroll, time tracking, and onboarding processes.
Gusto excels with its global payroll capabilities and comprehensive time and attendance features, making it an ideal choice for businesses with international teams and diverse needs. On the other hand, Wagepoint stands out with its intuitive interface, flexible pricing, and powerful onboarding tools, making it a great fit for small to mid-sized businesses looking for simplicity and efficiency.
Ultimately, the best choice depends on your business's specific requirements. So, carefully weigh both these options and choose accordingly.